Climatology
This page presents Saudi Arabia's climate context for the current climatology, 1991-2020, derived from observed, historical data. Information should be used to build a strong understanding of current climate conditions in order to appreciate future climate scenarios and projected change. You can visualize data for the current climatology through spatial variation, the seasonal cycle, or as a time series. Analysis is available for both annual and seasonal data. Data presentation defaults to national-scale aggregation, however sub-national data aggregations can be accessed by clicking within a country, on a sub-national unit. Other historical climatologies can be selected from the Time Period dropdown list.
Observed, historical data is produced by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of University of East Anglia. Data is presented at a 0.5º x 0.5º (50km x 50km) resolution.
Saudi Arabia is characterized by a desert climate, with the exception of the southwestern part of the country, which exhibits a semi-arid climate. Summers in the central region are extremely hot and dry, ranging from 27°C to 43°C in the inland areas and 27°C to 38°C in coastal areas. In winter, the temperature ranges between 8°C to 20°C in the interior parts while higher temperatures (19°C - 29°C) have been recorded in the coastal areas of Red Sea. The average annual rainfall in most parts of the country is below 150 mm throughout the year except the southwestern part where the rainfall occurs between 400 – 600 mm annually.